Debunking Christianity 2014 on the fact that the
First Letter of John tells Christians they need no teacher for they have the
holy spirit to teach them

It is good to remember that teachings about the Holy Spirit saving you the
trouble of looking for teachers, is dangerous. It leads to arrogance and
sectarianism. If Christian A contradicts Christian B and both claim to be guided
by God then clearly one has to accuse the other of being a fake or of been
fooled by a being pretending to be the Holy Spirit. I just wanted to make that
point for I think it is helpful to point out the dangers of a doctrine and not
just the silliness of a doctrine. It attracts Christians to the truth - that
Christianity is another Mormonism, a pack of lies and errors and
rationalisations.

JOHN LOFTUS

John Loftus said, "I'm not a specialist myself, nor do I have a Ph.D. I am a
generalist. Someone has to be an expert in all things Christian, as much as
possible. That's my goal. I think having a Ph.D. is a slight factor since having
one gains a person some instant credibility. But when I look at some of the
scholarly atheist works available I don't think it's much of a factor. Some of
their works are not selling any better than mine."

Personally I feel that having the credibility that comes with a Ph.D can
lead to some abusing the credibility. It is remarkable how people regarded as
extremely well educated can believe rubbish. Then again they only say they
believe it. Or is it a case where they don't care about the truth but about
their glory for their credibility guarantees them a reasonably sized audience? I
include those theologians who try to justify God commanding violence and murder
in the Bible as among those kind of manipulators. Surely if one has people
believing the nonsense one preaches just because one is thought to be highly
educated then one is going to get a ego boost that does not come from simply
passing truth on to a person when truth speaks for itself. Truth is its own
thing - it is truth no matter who says it is or isn't. It is its own authority
and there is no ego boost in putting the truth out there. And also, no matter
who says something we have to think it through for ourselves.

At the end of the day, good thinking habits matter more than any Ph.D and I find
John's books excellent examples of them.

December 13 - Posted on Debunking Christianity in response to a comment that
people believe what they want to believe and there is no point in trying to
change their minds.

It is not true that people always believe what they want to believe. Do all
besotted wives deny the evidence and proof of their husband's infidelity? Some
do and some don't. Those that don't believe what they really do not want to
believe. Often people feel things are true and mistake this feeling for
believing. But you can feel omnipotent though you know or believe you are not.
There is a word for a person who only believes what he wants - psychotic is that
word.